Fuels on the market such as diesel, biodiesel, gasoline, etc., may have varying degrees of quality due to the wide range of manufacturing standards in fuel processing around the globe. Therefore, fuel quality may vary based on location as well as other market factors. For instance, some fuels may not only contain a larger percentage of water but also contain debris, dirt, and/or other contaminants. The problem of fuel contamination may be particularly prevalent in less developed regions, such as Sub-Saharan Africa. Fuel contamination may decrease engine efficiency and increase emissions. Moreover, the fuel contamination may drastically decrease the lifespan of fuel injectors and fuel pumps in engines, necessitating early replacement of these parts. This fuel contamination may be particularly detrimental in engines using high pressure direct injection fuel delivery system employing high pressure fuel pumps, direct fuel injectors, etc. However, it will be appreciated that fuel contamination may lead to problems in numerous types of engines.
US 2012/0312759 discloses a fuel filter integrated into a fuel tank inlet. Specifically, the fuel filter is directly mounted to the fuel tank. The fuel filter is configured to remove particulates, such as dirt, from fuel entering the fuel tank. The Inventors have recognized several drawbacks with the fuel system disclosed in US 2012/0312759, as well as the issues noted above. For instance, the integrated fuel filter may be costly. Additionally, integrating the fuel filter into the fuel tank may also decrease the compactness of the fuel delivery system or decrease the capacity of the fuel tank. Furthermore, even if debris is removed, water in the fuel may decrease engine efficiency and increase emissions. At the same time, if a user has several vehicles, each vehicle must have an integrated filtering system, further increasing costs and maintenance.
As such in one approach, a portable pre-filtering fuel filler device is provided. The portable pre-filtering fuel filler device includes a fuel inlet opening, an interior fuel conduit in fluidic communication with the fuel inlet opening, and a water chamber positioned vertically below the interior fuel conduit. The portable pre-filtering fuel filler device further includes a fuel filter in fluidic communication with the water chamber and positioned vertically above the water chamber and a fuel outlet opening in fluidic communication with the fuel filter.
In one example, the water chamber enables water to collect at the bottom of the chamber and fuel to float on top of the water and be siphoned off to downstream elements. In this way, water can be separated from the fuel prior to fuel entering a fuel system such as a fuel system in a vehicle via the fuel port. Moreover, the filter also enables contaminants such as dirt, particulates, etc., to be removed from the fuel. Removing water and other contaminants from the fuel improves fuel quality. As a result, efficiency is increased and emissions are decreased in the engine accepting the higher quality fuel. Additionally, the component longevity in the fuel system of the engine is also increased when the portable pre-filtering fuel filler device is used to remove water and contaminants from the fuel entering the fuel system. Additionally, the cost of the device is less expensive than other filtering systems that directly integrate fuel filtering components into the fuel system. The device may be portable in that it may be shaped to be hand-held via a handle. Furthermore, the portability of the portable pre-filtering fuel filler device enables the device to be used to filter fuel in a multitude of engines and vehicles. For instance, the filler device can be used to filter fuel provided to multiple vehicles at a filling station, a home residence, etc. As a result, the applicability of the portable pre-filtering fuel filler device is increased.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure. Additionally, the above issues have been recognized by the inventors herein, and are not admitted to be known.
FIGS. 2 and 5 are drawn approximately to scale, although other relative dimensions may be used.